Veteran defender Jason Shackell is still going strong at Lincoln City, having played a key role in their title win last season.

The Imps lifted the League Two trophy on the final day of the season, their third piece of silverware in as many years, but they’re now facing a period of uncertainty.

Manager Danny Cowley, the most successful of their history, left for Huddersfield Town and in doing so paved the way for Michael Appleton to come back into management. He’s been out of the management game since July 2017 but is now hoping to push the imps on the greater heights.

He’ll be relying on some of his senior professionals to help him settled in, one of which is 36-year-old Shackell. He’s been a key player for the Imps this season, taking the captain’s armband in the absence of Lee Frecklington, but has he been as much of a success?

Our spotlight aims to shed some light on his recent outings.

Shackell has played ten times for the Imps this season, having missed their opening three fixtures due to suspension. He immediately replaced Cian Bolger on his return, despite the Imps keeping four clean sheets in those matches.

When Shackell did come in, he first partnered Bolger as Michael Bostwick missed out. Bostwick returned to the side to once again team up with Shackell at centre back and the Imps conceded a first-minute goal away at MK Dons. Whilst the former Derby man wasn’t directly to blame, it did lead to many calling for Bolger’s reinstatement.

Since then Shackell has been involved in two clean sheets from ten fixtures, those coming against Fleetwood Town and Southend United. Shackell scored the opening goal against Southend as they won 4-0.

The Imps’ results have tailed off since beating Fleetwood, coinciding with the upheaval around Danny Cowley’s departure. Shackell didn’t have a great game as they were hammered 6-0 at home by Oxford United, but overall his performances have been particularly good.

He’s won 65.5% of his aerial duels, a good number for a defender and one of the stronger points to Lincoln’s rearguard. They don’t have an awful lot of pace in defence, certainly not centrally, but they can deal with long balls into the box, as shown in the latter stages of the Fleetwood win and their unfortunately 1-0 loss to Bristol Rovers.

As opposition teams have looked to take advantage of the Imps delicate situation, Shackell has been busy with blocks and clearances. He makes 6.52 interceptions per game as well as 5.75 clearances, which is around 12 defensive action per match. Not counting headers away, that’s one positive action every eight minutes.

He’s also still winning plenty of duels, 74.5% of his defensive challenges result in him coming out on top. Couple that with the one aspect a stat can’t cover, experience, and it seems that Shackell is as important to Lincoln as he was during his earlier days to Wolves, Norwich, Burnley and Derby.

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